Indochina in Turmoil

Vietnam's expansionism in Indochina during the 1970s had its roots in its pre-colonial past, argues Milton Osborne.

Members of the Mekong Exploration CommissionNearly four years after the Communist victories in the three countries of Indo-China war, and the threat of war, remain as the dominant features of the region's contemporary history. For anyone aware of developments in Indo-China over the past 200 years there is an immediate, if perhaps overly superficial, temptation to see history repeating itself not as farce but as tragedy. China's invasion of Vietnam in February and March, 1979 raised echoes of another Chinese invasion of 1788-89 that was also designed to reverse developments seen as harmful to Chinese interests.

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